Bible
The '''Bible '''is the book containing the historical, theological and poetic accounts as well as letters that are divinely inspired by God . The Bible is divided into two testaments, the old which contains the majority of biblical-historical accounts and the new, which follows the events of Jesus Christ on Earth and the early history of the Christian church and missionary outreach. The Bible is ultimately authored by God who, through various methods, has assigned and inspired human authors to contribute writings to the Bible. The Bible also provides knowledge as well as commands regarding a variety of situations and how to obey God in these situations. Authorship The Bible is ultimately and divinely inspired by God despite the actual writing of the scriptures by human authors through various methodsHebrews 1:1. The information found in the Bible is both inspired by God Himself2 Tim 3:16 and often from personal knowledge of the writersLuke 1:3. Such personal knowledge includes an understanding of their world at their time (eyewitnessing2 Peter 1:16,18) as well as interviewing and researchLuke 1:3-4. The theological message itself is not originated from man-made ideas, rather directly from revelation of GodGalatians 1:11-12. God used forty human authors across the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe to write the books of the Bible. These books are written throughout different time periods beginning with the Book of Job and ending with the Book of Revelation in the order they were written. Many books, or book divisions were written by the same author as another. The Bible was written by a variety of people with a various amount of occupations such as prophets (Isaiah, Zechariah, Malachi, etc.), kings (David, Solomon), and religious leaders (Ezra and Nehemiah, Samuel).The Bible was also written in three different languages: Hebrew (Old Testament), Greek (New Testament) and Aramaic (which is written in several books across the Old Testament). Divisions The traditional division for the books of the Bible includes the Pentateuch or Law of Moses (Genesis-Deuteronomy), the history of the Old Testament (Joshua-Esther), the books of Poetry and Wisdom (Job-Song of Songs), the Major Prophets (Isaiah-Daniel), and the Book of the Twelve or Minor Prophets (Hosea-Malachi) in the Old Testament and the Gospels/Acts (Matthew-Acts), Paul's letters to churches (Romans-2 Thessalonians), Paul's letters to individuals (1 Timothy-Philemon), the General or Catholic epistles (Hebrews-Jude) and the Revelation to St. John in the New Testament. Themes The Bible's overall theme entails individuals or nations (particularly the nation of Israel) beginning obeying God and listening and following His commands. The group or individual then disobey's God laws due to sin and of their evil desires. Therefore, God's law demonstrates to the disobedient that they have sinned. In order to justify for the sin, God punishes the people by delivering them into the hands of an enemy, causing death amongst several and some cases completely eradicating the people sinning against Him (specifically the Sodomites and Gammorans). God often showed mercy though, despite the sin, seeing the suffering and grievance of the people and sends a rescuer. The rescuer is often in variation in terms of gender, power, and style. Most commonly the rescuer comes from humble beginnings and only by God's power performed miraculous acts. The rescuers unfortunately, themselves sinned against God and had doubts in their faith and God. Due to this, they were unable to fulfill the law and end sacrificing of animals for atonement of sin. The humbleness of the rescuers is a reflection of Jesus Christ, the ultimate rescuer, because he ultimately fulfilled the law by never sinning and being crucified on the Cross for the atonement of all of humanity's sins. Symbolism The Bible while being very literal historically,theologically and legislatively it has a heavy usage of metaphors to better convey simplistic all the way to complex concepts. Symbolism is used in describing God and His nature, that of Jesus as well as Their relationship with humanity. The prophecies contained in the Bible also are heavily metaphorical and some of the times the Bible itself plainly interprets it while others it does not. Genres The Bible is contained of historical accounts, poetry, letters and Israelite legislation, and prophecies. Primarily the type of literature in the Bible is grouped together in book divisions. Historical Accounts The historical accounts in the Bible are declarative accounts that historically portray the actions of people or nations and their interactions with God. These accounts are used to convey a specific theological theme as well as the overall theme of the Bible. These accounts often can be repeated throughout multiple books (various authors perspective) and include many quotes from dialogue. Poetry The Poetry in the Bible is primarily located at the poetry division, but also has several smaller songs throughout the Bible that are sung to God for praise in times of great joy. The Poetry in the Bible often is the recording of dialogue of a person's thoughts, conversations with God, prayers and wisdom. The Poetry in the Bible helps convey a person's relationship with God and their personal thoughts about it. Prophecy The Bible contains several prophetic books, usually divided into the Major Prophets as well as Minor Prophets. Also throughout the rest of the Bible within books themselves that are not considered prophetic contain specific prophecies concerning biblical people, or those that concern world empires and powers. A large amount of biblical prophecies are fulfilled, while prophecies on the Apocalypse particular are unfulfilled. Letters The Bible contains many letters, primarily in the New Testament, written by Paul. These letters are usually referred to as Epistles and are usually their own book of the Bible. These letters will usually contain an intro from the author including the audience and purpose and then will include a conclusion or "exhortation" from the author. There are few instances where there are letters recorded in the Bible that are within a larger book rather than being an Epistle of their own. Laws The Bible contains many laws, primarily recorded in the Pentateuch, especially Leviticus. These laws were often Israel's ceremonial laws that created regulation for Israel. There is also the moral law, which is the moral commandments given by God that derive off the Ten Commandments. Many of these laws or covenants are recorded in their respective historical context and recorded in many forms throughout the Bible as reminders and explanations of these laws. Characteristics Relevancy The Bible is relevant throughout history as well as modern times despite the time it was written. Many parts of the Bible were written for specific people or groups, but since God has divinely included its text as scripture it is meant for use by anyone. There are also several metaphorical, as well as theological elements that can be applied to a daily basis in how to live life according to the Bible. Completeness The Bible is complete and should not be added to or taken away fromDeut 4:2, Rev 22:19. If you do not believe a part of the Bible, you cannot believe the entire thingJohn 5:46-47. Not only does the Bible include the Old Testament accounts, but includes the teaching's of Jesus that have been spokenHeb 1:2. Understanding In order to understand the Bible fully, it requires guidance from the Holy Spirit1 Cor 2:14, Job 32:8, Luke 24:45,Psa 119:34, James 1:5. Circulation The Bible (specifically the New Testament) is one of the most copied and preserved ancient texts that have been passed down to us today. This is just one of many reasons for its reliability and witness to the life of Jesus Christ. In fact, no other ancient manuscripts that have been preserved of any other text come close to the number of manuscripts of the complete New Testament canon. The Bible has also faced significant prosecution and attempts to destroy it which it has miraculously survived by the will of God. Accuracy Historical Historical accuracy can be attributed to there being no historically inaccurate fact in the Bible due to archaeological, cultural as well as record aspects. Another attribution to historical accuracy is several of the prime stories are also present in several other religions. Internal Consistency The Bible does not contradict itself and is consistent, regardless that the Bible was written by many different authors through several periods of time. References Category:Books